GPO Might Turn Employee Parking Lot Into Commercial Development

The Government Printing Office is exploring commercial development of a parking lot near its North Capitol Street headquarters. (CQ Roll Call File Photo)

In addition to plans to trim 100 workers from its ranks, the Government Printing Office is considering commercial development of an employee parking lot about a block west of Union Station.

The financially strapped agency on Thursday put out a request for information from commercial contractors concerning development of the GPO-owned parking lot on H Street Northwest. Bound by North Capitol Street and New Jersey Avenue, the 3.2-acre lot sits just north of the Massachusetts Avenue (NOMA) Business Improvement District and across from one of the District’s new Walmart stores.

According to the request posted on a General Services Administration site, the “GPO is seeking to better understand the available solutions and capabilities that industry can offer for commercial development of its Parking Lot, to include continued provision of parking space for GPO’s employees, which GPO might consider using in the near future.”

Except for two police checkpoint booths, paving and fencing, the lot is mainly barren. The information provided will be used for internal decision making for future actions by GPO.

The 152-year-old legislative branch agency, has been facing congressional pressure to transform its operations to cope with a changing information landscape and declining need for printed government documents. The parking lot development is the second initiative announced this month by Public Printer Davita Vance-Cooks to improve efficiency.

Last week, GPO announced plans to seek permission from Congress and the Office of Personnel Management to offer buyouts in an effort to cut 100 employees from its 1,850-person workforce — a reduction of about 5 percent.

“GPO’s technology transformation as the Government’s publisher includes an effort to ensure we are getting the highest and best use of all our resources,” Vance-Cooks said in a statement on the request. “We look forward to the concepts and ideas that we will receive in response to this [request for information].”

Turn the entire Capitol area into a parking lot. You people are doing NOTHING. You’ve wasted $100 BILLION in the past year. The President needs to be impeached, the Attorney General needs to be prosecuted for refusing to do his job and the American people need to vote the entire Congress out, starting with Pelosi and Boehner.

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About Hill Blotter

Campus Reporter Bridget Bowman (@bridgetbhc) keeps her eye what's happening on and around the Hill. She covers local elections, the Capitol Hill community, House and Senate administration, legislative agencies and congressional oversight over the District of Columbia.

Leadership Reporter Hannah Hess (@ha_nah_nah) covers law enforcement and ethics investigations, acting as a watchdog of both chambers of Congress. Her beat includes Capitol Police and the House and Senate sergeants-at-arms.